This invention relates to a process of manufacturing a ski, which is composed of a plurality of components, particularly a laminated ski, with the aid of a vacuum.
Another subject matter of the invention is a ski manufactured by that process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,274 discloses the use of a vacuum in the manufacture of skis. The vacuum serves only to hold the top and bottom plastic layers against the top and bottom walls of the mold before the latter is filled with foam formed in situ.
Laid-open German Application No. 2,155,146 discloses a process in which the vacuum is used only to make the core of the ski in that air is sucked from the mold between a plastic sheet and the walls of the mold so that that plastic sheet forces the reinforcement under pressure against the glass fiber mat. During the application of that pressure the polyester resin is cured and firmly joins the glass fiber mat and the reinforcement to form a carrying core sheath. During that operation the side walls of the mold cavity are lined with mock-up elements instead of the subsequently provided top and bottom coverings.
It is an object of the invention to provide a manufacturing process which permits a particularly economical manufacture of a ski which has good skiing properties and in which the components of the ski are so joined that they are firmly held together and the skiing properties will not be adversely affected.
In a process of the kind described first hereinbefore this object is accomplished in accordance with the invention in that the components of the ski are placed into a mold which is adapted to be evacuated, the mold is subsequently evacuated, and a binder, such as liquid resin, is supplied to the mold during or after its evacuation, wherein air is sucked from one end of the longitudinal extent of the ski and the liquid binder is supplied to the mold at the other end of the longitudinal extent of the ski.
In the ski manufactured by that process a strip of binder extends in at least one vertical or horizontal longitudinal plane of the ski, preferably in a central longitudinal plane of the ski.